


Bedtime

by abetternameneeded



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25090555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abetternameneeded/pseuds/abetternameneeded
Summary: Killian tells Alice a bedtime story.
Kudos: 2





	Bedtime

Killian Jones sat on the edge of a bed with his daughter comfortably nestled in the crook of his arm. He'd sang her a lullaby after yet another day of her unjust and undeserved imprisonment. The night sky had risen and along with it his guilt for the fact Alice was falling asleep inside the tower she'd been trapped in for five bloody years. He was trying to give her a happy childhood but he knew it wasn't perfect, invisble bars and stone walls held her back from touching the world she looked at so longingly.

"Starfish, do you want a bedtime story too?" he couldn't shake the guilt but he would never forget to tell her one of his stories. Not that she'd have let him walk away without one.

"Aye!" Alice cheered. The cheer made Killian feel slightly better. Something he'd done had made her sound happy. Somethng he was cnstantly terrafied he was failing at.

"Any request?"

She asked for one of her favorites.

"Right then," Killian launched into a story she'd likely heard bits of before. But she still watched with wide eyes as he spoke. She loved every word lthat took her to the world outside of her tower. And his tone was laced clearly with how much he cared for her. "And the pirate and the crocodile_"

"Was it really a crocodile papa? What is a crocodile?"

"No, it wasn't. And it's an animal. I'll draw you a picture and show you later, okay?" Killian held in a sigh, his daughter should have been on his ship with him damnit! And she would have known! Sometimes her questions cut open an old wound, but he always answered her knowing she had no other way of knowing. No one else to ask.

"Okay." And he continued his story.

"They fought for centuries each wanting more than anything the others life. It took a toll on the pirate, he changed. He did some bad things. Things he regretted. And one day the feud stopped. The quest for revenge seemed futile."

Alice eye's had began to grow heavy and Killian started to get up.

"Why, papa? What happened to the pirate?" Alice had heard versions of this story at least a dozen times over, but she had always loved the very end and wouldn't let Killian walk away without saying it.

"Starfish, you know how it ends."

"Aye, but the story in this world has to end for the story in the next one to start!" He knew she meant her dreams.

"Alright. But then you have to sleep," he told her. Alice agreed and he finished his story.

"He discovered that there are some things far more important than revenge." She drifted off to sleep soon after.

"Good night, I love you."

Killian gently stood up and kissed the forehead of Alice's sleeping form. He went over to his hammock and laid awake a little longer tryign to think of a way to free her. He wanted so badly to show her to ocean. But for now he'd tell her stories about his days as a pirate and hope she knew she was his entire world.


End file.
